Beneath Equestria
by Planguy
Summary: Twilight Sparkle, Adventurer Librarian, and her friends embark on an expedition underground to find answers about a lost settlement of ponies that fled Nightmare Moon's  supposedly  eternal night. However danger lurks... Beneath Equestria!
1. Chapter 1

"So what are we doing again, Twilight?" Spike asked. Twilight had been absorbed in one of her personal projects, leaving Spike out of the loop while she locked herself in her room and studied. When she wasn't in her room she was going off and doing errands without him, and he was getting pretty curious about what had all of her focus. When he'd woken up that morning it seemed his curiosity about what Twilight was up to would be satisfied, as she'd dragged him off with her on one of her mysterious errands into Ponyville.

"We're off to see the Mayor, Spike." Twilight explained. "As I'm sure you know I've been assigned by the Princess the task of studying friendship here in Ponyville, but I've not limited myself to that one pursuit. In furthering my general academic studies I've stumbled upon something really interesting about Ponyville's history, and I need to see the Mayor to check some things."

Spike scratched his head in confusion. "Will, at least I know what's gotten you so distracted recently, but Ponyville history? This is a nice town and all, but it's not exactly all that historically important. Also, why do you need to see the Mayor? We live in a library. There is a ton of history books right below where we sleep."

Twilight gave a small shake of her head at her young friend's lack of interest in the pursuit of knowledge and entered into lecture mode. "Spike, Ponyville has a rich and interesting history, from it's foundation by earth ponies in 566, the manticore raids of the 640's, it's near destruction by an Ursa Major and abandonment in the early 700's and re-establishment half a century later, and the first successful use of a lighter then air aircraft in the early part of the 900's. Those are, by the way, only footnotes of an exciting history that would take a good day to recount. A town neighboring the Everfree forest is going to see its share of action, after all."

From his position on Twilight's back Spike looked around with renewed interest at the buildings that comprised Ponyville as Twilight continued at a sedate pace to the Mayor's office. "Huh, this place does have an interesting history after all, I guess. Maybe I should read some of those history books we have when we get back home. But anyways, Twilight, why do we need to go to the Mayor's? You didn't explain why that's necessary, especially considering you already seem to know a lot about Ponyville's history."

Twilight nodded her head, agreeing with Spike's assessment that she was knowledgeable about her new hometown. "I guess I do know a great deal about Ponyville, but that's exactly why we're going to see the Mayor. The things I've mentioned so far are fairly average historical tidbits of information that anypony with a thirst for knowledge could obtain, but I've stumbled upon some truly interesting information concerning Ponyville. Or rather, the land that would someday become Ponyville." Twilight's voice was getting quicker as she excitedly started to get to the heart of the matter.

"You see, Spike, though it isn't currently common knowledge the Equestrian calendar begins with Nightmare Moon's imprisonment. Whatever system we ponies had used previously was abandoned as we entered a new age with Princess Celestia as our sole ruler. Ponyville's establishment as a community was around the middle of the time between our current era and the start of our current calendar. What secrets lie in the time period between Princess Luna's transformation, and banishment, and the start of Ponyville? What secrets do these lands hold from the time before even that? I've managed to stitch together from various recorded pony tales records of a settlement that once existed on the land that now comprises Ponyville, a settlement that disappeared to a pony during the time of Nightmare Moon's initial emergence!" Twilight said dramatically.

"The Mayor, Twilight?" Spike asked with a deadpan expression.

"Oh! Yeah, heh." Twilight said with a sheepish expression and a slight blush on her cheeks. "The Mayor has some of the actual mouth written journals of the earth pony explorers who founded Ponyville. It's mentioned in a rather dry history of the Mayors of Ponyville that such journals existed and that they told of some fascinating ruins that stood where Ponyville stands now. The Mayor serves as a sort of unofficial curator for Ponyville's historically important objects and I've been going over to her place to read through the collection of ancient books there, seeing if I can find out more about these ruins. It's only the fact that I'm from the University of Canterlot and the Princess's prized pupil that I'm even allowed to look at such fragile documents. Spike, you're here today to help me in my search, and please be careful, we'll be touching history today."

"So I'm going to be helping you dig through even older and dustier books then usual today?" Spike said with a sigh. "Ancient ruins sound like fun, but you sure know how to drag me along on the boring research parts of an adventure. Hey, Twilight, other then personal curiosity why are you doing this? Did you become an adventurer archeologist when I wasn't looking?"

"Adventurer librarian, actually." Twilight said with a grin, as she walked up to the Mayor's front door. "I believe I became one when my friends and I went hoof to hoof with the ancient, immortal, immensely powerful co-founder of our country and defeated her with the power of friendship."

* * *

><p>"Now all right, Twilight. Ya got all of us sitting in yer sitting room, drinking tea." Applejack said, after taking a sip from her cup. She didn't normally like tea, considering it a bit frou frou-y for her tastes, but Twilight had a way of making her tea taste all right. "Would you care to get along with what you wanted to show us? Ah can't speak for everypony here, but ah'm sure interested to see what has you so interested."<p>

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie interjected excitedly, while jumping from her seat with a cup of tea balanced precariously on her head. "Twilight you make such a big effort to be involved in our lives and what we like, writing reports about your experiences to the Princess all the time, but it doesn't seem like you really, really ever let us share in what you like." With that Pinkie abruptly sat down with a pout, the cup balanced on her head doing a complex slide down her face to be gripped by her lips. She jerked her head back and slammed the tea down in one gulp, afterwards dropping the cup and letting it clatter on the table in front of her. "Mmm, good tea! Anyways, Twilight, spill the jelly beans about whatever super fun, Twilight-y thing you've been so involved in!"

"Yeah, what Pinkie Pie said, minus being high on a sugar rush. You know Pinkie, you're supposed to put some actual tea in your sugar, heh." Rainbow Dash said with a grin and a confident flex of her wings.

Rarity had been increasingly occupied trying to get her teacup perfectly arranged on her saucer, but wouldn't allow herself to be so rude as to ignore the hostess of the tea party in which she was taking part. Such rudeness just wasn't allowed in a lady, and such lack of consideration for a friend just wasn't allowed in Rarity! She looked up and favored her friend with a radiant smile. "Twilight you simply must tell us about what you've been up to, we're all simply dying to know! And besides you always shine your brightest when you are talking about something that interests you."

"That's true, Twilight." Fluttershy said, agreeing with Rarity's statement and only slightly flinching as everypony's attention shifted to her. "You may not have noticed this, but sometimes I can be a little, um, shy. Talking about things that interest me, like adorable woodland creatures, helps me come out of my shell." Fluttershy's eyes widened as she worriedly realized that what she said could be construed as an insult. "Um, not that you need any help coming out of your shell, you're such a confident pony. But not overconfident! Uh, anyways we're all so very interested to hear what you have to say."

Twilight smiled at her friend's genuine interest in her discovery. "Thank you so much. I had actually been a little worried that in my research I'd been neglecting you all so much that you might be angry at me." Twilight had to pause while her friends murmured various things indicating the silliness that they would be mad with her just for indulging in something that frankly made her who she was: her love of research and books. "Well, I suppose such wonderful friends getting mad just because I spent a week burying myself in research might seem a bit silly, but I still feel a bit guilty. This is why I wanted to share my fascinating discovery with all of you, my closest friends."

Twilight's horn began to glow, and the lights in her library home began to dim. "Now, I'm not as accomplished with illusion spells as Rarity," Rarity gave a graceful incline of her head in acknowledgment of Twilight's compliment, "however I think that what I'm going to discuss could do with some visual aids." With that said suddenly Equestria in miniature was on the table that the six ponies were sitting around, like some board game of the goddesses. Pinkie Pie playfully pretended to crush Canterlot, only for an annoyed glance from Applejack to settle her down.

On the table the image of Equestria started to go through day and night cycles, as Twilight began her narration. "Now, we mark time by the cycles of day and night, cycles once governed by our ruler Princess Celestia, and recently and in the distant past governed by both Celestia and her younger sister Princess Luna." The illusion of Equestria stopped shifting between day and night and settled on a particularly nice looking, clear day. "Here is Equestria as it exists currently. Please excuse the crudity of this representation, I did what I could with an atlas, some population estimates and some guess work." most of the ponies assembled stared at the illusion in awe and Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a bemused glance, considering that what Twilight apparently saw as a flawed representation of Equestria was pretty much exactly what it looked like from the air.

Twilight got up and started to pace around the table, giving her creation a critical eye as she continued. "Now, let's start to work our way backwards in time." The sun that held firm above Equestria began to move again as the day and night cycle of the illusion reversed itself, providing the artistic impression of the reversed passage of time that was being represented. The ponies assembled watched as communities shrank and disappeared with some communities suddenly appearing representing the towns and cities that had been abruptly destroyed during Equestria's long history. Slowly all their eyes were drawn to Ponyville, their hometown, watching it as it traveled back in time. So lost they became in the spectacle that they were shocked when time stopped again and Ponyville had disappeared. "Here! Here is the time before Ponyville's founding. The time is around halfway between Nightmare Moon's banishment and the return of Princess Luna. You'll notice that the Everfree forest is difficult to tell apart from the woods that are on the land that will one day become Ponyville. In fact, some have made the argument that they are one and the same."

Applejack cleared her throat to get Twilight's attention and politely raised a hoof to indicate she wanted to comment. Twilight nodded her head, and listened as Applejack spoke. "Ah remember that's how it was taught back in school. Teacher said the Everfree forest had grown too big for its britches, and that Ponyville was in part founded as a land reclamation effort. You saying that ain't true, Twilight?"

Twilight put her hoof to her chin and thought about Applejack's question for a moment. "Hmm, it's not exactly true, Applejack. It is true that this land was very wild and needed to be tamed by some hardy ponies in order to make it suitable for a town, but it wasn't part of the Everfree forest. Never was. There is a different reason why this land was left to be swallowed by the wilderness, and to explain that reason we have to go back further."

Everypony eagerly looked back at the illusion of Equestria, but it remained the same. "Sorry everypony, this is where things get a bit sketchy, and it's where my research has been held up until earlier today when I hit a breakthrough." Twilight said apologetically, while banishing the illusion of Equestria. "You see, I pieced together ponytales of a settlement of ponies that existed where Ponyville stands today, in the time before Nightmare Moon was banished. Historical records of that time are scarce, but I was nearly positive that the place existed. I kept searching and searching until today, with Spikes help, I found a personal diary of one of the founders of Ponyville. He had found some evidence of stone buildings and further explorations by him resulted in him finding a stone tablet that recorded what had happened to the settlement. He described it containing no writing, but it did depict what he described as an ominous night and images of ponies fleeing underground."

Twilight paused dramatically before continuing. "I believe that during Nightmare Moon's original appearance and attempt to plunge the world into eternal night an entire settlement of ponies fled underground to escape. I believe that these ponies disappearance resulted in the land that Ponyville stands on picking up a kind of supernatural dread for most ponies, and that resulted in these lands going empty from pony habitation for hundreds of years, until the settlement of Ponyville. Finally, I believe the ponies that fled Nightmare Moon, or at least evidence of their existence, might still exist somewhere. Somewhere... beneath Equestria."

"Dun, dun, DUN!" Pinkie said with a serious expression from behind Twilight. At everyponies look she just sat down and lifted her hooves with a shrug. "What? I thought the moment called for a "Dun, dun, DUN'. Please continue, Twilight."

"Er, yes." Twilight said, giving her friend a confused look. "Anyways. Everypony, I wanted to ask all of you to help me with an expedition of great historical importance. But more importantly then that I want you all to share in something important to me just like all of you have allowed me to share in the things that are important to you."

Twilight didn't seem to have to wait an instant before her friends were at her side, excitedly chatting about what kinds of preparations they would have to make.

* * *

><p>Applejack adjusted her saddle pack, looking it over to see if everything was in order. Her brother Big Macintosh and her little sister Applebloom had loaded it up to near bursting with everything she'd possibly need on an underground expedition. Applejack smiled, even though the pack was a bit uncomfortable, because her siblings outfitting her so completely showed how much they cared about her. Applebloom especially had been insistent on making sure she was well prepared, and Applejack assumed that she took after her in showing her concern for her loved ones by taking care of them in such a fashion. She looked over at everypony else s preparations with a dubious expression. "Rarity, Ah know you like to dress your best, but you did remember to pack things that will actually help you survive a possibly dangerous expedition, rather then just help you look good during one, right?"<p>

Rarity lifted her chin haughtily as she replied. "Applejack, I have been a party to several exciting adventures by now, a few that have had the fate of Equestria herself on the line. I can assure you I have packed the appropriate "practical" essentials for a mission filled with possible danger and hardships." Rarity then pulled out an attractive scarf that she playfully wrapped around her neck. "However, if I didn't pack just a few fashionable accoutrements I may as well be dead."

Applejack rolled her eyes, but a quick look in Rarity's pack revealed that she had packed well for the trip. She'd even seemed to leave behind her tiara and some of her bulkier jewelry to leave room for more practical supplies. Pinkie Pie had likewise packed sensibly other then taking a token supply of candy and gag items. Fluttershy had been thorough, perhaps overly so. Applejack distinctly noted some medicines that seemed to be geared towards animal as opposed to pony health. Applejack shook her head, if Fluttershy wanted to cart around the extra weight despite it probably not being needed, that was her choice. Rainbow Dash packed a little light, but she seemed to be concerned with maintaining her mobility, and Applejack deemed that a practical concern. Overall everypony seemed to be ready, and she turned to Twilight to report. "Now alright, Twilight. Everypony's ready, willing and able to get this show on the road. Do ya got anything to say to the troops?"

Twilight quickly checked her own pack, filled with standard supplies along with some specialized cartography equipment and a journal in which she had recorded everything she had discovered during her investigation. "Thank you, Applejack. Now, everypony, this is going to be a possibly dangerous expedition. I decided it was a bit too much for Spike to take part in, so he's going to stay in Ponyville while we make a preliminary journey underground to find some evidence of a possible underground pony settlement. I've decided that we'll only spend a few days underground looking for clues and should no sign of us be detected for 5 days a rescue expedition organized by Spike will be sent out to find us. Now, I have a general idea about where the entrance to the cave system that the ponies of the past used to escape what they thought was Nightmare Moon's eternal night is, but we'll still be going into the Everfree Forest to examine the stone tablet with our own eyes."

Twilight and her friend s journey into the Everfree Forest went without much event. Having left Ponyville in early morning they had much of the day to make it to the stone tablet and the bright daylight gave the hike through the forest the feeling of a nice stroll through the woods, rather then the feeling of the rather dangerous hike it actually was. The ponies, Fluttershy especially, weren't fooled by the pleasantness of the day into lowering their guard but they still felt in high spirits. Around noon they reached their destination and Twilight began the careful cataloguing of the information held on the stone tablet as her friends settled down to eat the lunch they had packed.

"Fascinating!" Twilight said while levitating her journal and furiously writing in it the details she was observing. "Girls, look at this. It's just as it was described in the journal of the earth pony explorer that came before us. There's just a very small amount of detail he missed and now that I have it I've got a pretty exact map of where to go. I had thought we'd need to take a whole day just finding the entrance yet it seems we'll actually be able to start exploring underground today."

Rainbow Dash had finished her lunch before everypony else, so she was the first to respond to Twilight's good news. "That's great, Twilight! I mean, I can't say that I'm all that interested in being in a cave and having my flying messed with because of being in such a small space," she said with a shrug. "but I do like the idea of making a historic discovery!"

"Well, it's certainly going to be historic, whatever we find." Twilight said while closing her journal and slipping it back into her saddle pack. "And as for being stuck in a claustrophobic location I can ease your worries: some of the description of these cave systems describes them as being fairly large. You should be able to fly in some of them quite easily."

Fluttershy perked up at that. "Oh, dear, that's a relief. I usually like to keep my feet on the ground, but I don't think I'd like to be cooped up in a tiny cave."

"While it's nice to know that we won't be getting any skinnier traveling down narrow cave passages Ah'm still not sure what you think you'll find down there, Twilight." Applejack said with some doubt in her voice. "Do you really think that anypony could survive down there for 1000 years? Ah can't help but think that we'll only find some dusty old bones down there." Applejack couldn't help but shiver a bit at the thought and Fluttershy actually let out an "Eep!".

Twilight wasn't a pony to let superstition keep her from discovery, but knew that she should say something to ease her friend's minds. "Relax, girls. Even if there isn't... a current underground pony settlement it's not as if though we'd be desecrating a tomb. We'd be honoring the memory of a group of ponies long ago forgotten. And if the pony settlement has managed to exist to the present day in addition to being the archeological find of the century we can also bring a group of ponies locked away below the surface back to the light of Celestia's sun."

Pinkie popped her head between Applejack and Twilight and broke into the conversation. "And you know what it would mean to find a bunch of ponies who never saw the sun before and who are ignorant of 1000 years of Equestrian history, right?"

"...We'd have to have a party?" Rainbow Dash said with a raised eyebrow.

"No, silly!" Pinkie Pie said with a laugh. "It'd provide insights into the way societies form in extreme situations, with the additional side benefit of providing another view of our own history from a culture that shares origins with our own while having developed independently, with its own concept of what was historically important. But a party sounds like a good idea, too." Pinkie nudged Dash with a hoof, grinning at her friend s cleverness. "You're gooood Dashie."

* * *

><p>Twilight Sparkle and her friends reached the location of the entrance to the underground cave system in the early afternoon. It was in the large mountain that the dragon they had previously encountered and convinced to leave Equestria used for storing his treasure. In the mountain there was a shaft leading downwards, deeper even then the caves the Diamond Dogs had used for their own home. It took them a few more hours to climb the mountain, then to navigate the cave until they reached the inner chamber that held the large, gaping hole that would lead them down into the depths of Equestria.<p>

"Whoa, Twilight." Applejack said, eyeing the hole. "How in tarnation are we supposed to get down there, much less come back up after we're done?"

Twilight herself gave the hole a worried look, but explained her plan in a reasonable tone. "It does look scary, but the plan I have for getting us down there is pretty safe, and takes up much less space in our packs then having to carry all the ropes necessary to climb down would have. You see, I've got a spell that will lighten each of us enough so that we'll fall like a feather. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will be around to direct our falls should we inadvertently aim for anything dangerous during our descent. And as for getting back up when we're done I've got some individual pony sized balloons that in addition to the feather fall spell will allow us to float back up the shaft once we're done, again with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy directing us to keep us out of trouble."

Having experience with Twilight's magical ability, receiving wings from her that functioned perfectly until she had pushed them beyond their designed limitations, Rarity had full confidence in Twilight's plan. "What a perfectly elegant solution to our descent problem, Twilight." Rarity said with admiration in her voice. "I have full confidence in your plan, Twilight, but I volunteer to test it out first. Just to be sure nothing unforeseen happens when we put the plan into effect."

"That's a good idea, Rarity." Twilight said with a nod of her head. "I think the plan is foolproof, but it's always better to be safe then sorry. You go first, and if anything goes wrong with the plan me, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can make sure even a disaster should be something we can recover from."

Twilight's horn started to glow and shining bubbles began appearing around Rarity. They converged on Rarity and her hair noticeably started floating around her face, causing a rather pleasing aesthetic effect that enhanced Rarity's beauty.

"Hmm, not as eye catching an effect as the wings, but I think I can work with this." Rarity said a she examined the effect the feather fall spell had on her hair. She shifted her head to see how her hair would now move being near weightless, only to find that the simple movement caused her entire body to rise a few inches above the ground. This caused her to flail about comically before she settled back down to the floor again.

"Careful, Rarity." Twilight said with a gentle motion of her right front hoof. "You're not used to weighing so little," Rainbow Dash snickered at how that statement could be taken the wrong way, but everypony else ignored her. "so you have to watch how you move when under the effect of this spell."

"Right as always, Twilight." Rarity said with an easy laugh. She quickly managed to correct her movements to allow herself not to float off accidently, and with a nod from Twilight to begin descent when she was ready she maneuvered her way to the edge of the hole and prepared to jump.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Twilight said. "There's enough ambient light around here for us to see, but as we go deeper it's going to get darker. Rarity can make her own light, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will need to wear some headgear with lamps attached to them." Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly put on the headgear provided by Twilight. With that done Rarity carefully jumped down into the hole, with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying down with her to keep an eye out for her.

Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie waited, quietly worrying about their friends. The light they gave off gradually disappeared, and then there was a long wait as they watched the darkness. In time the light reappeared and Rainbow Dash zoomed up to greet them.

"Hah, easy! The way down was a bit scary because we didn't know what to expect, but coming back up wasn't hard at all." Rainbow Dash said proudly.

Pinkie Pie looked around. "Hey, Where's Fluttershy?"

Rainbow Dash gave a dismissive snort. "Oh, she's fine. I didn't feel right leaving Rarity down their alone, so I thought Fluttershy should keep her company. I'm fine keeping all you ponies safe on your way down."

Twilight thought that over. "Well... I suppose with no problems going down and coming back up, and knowing the way down, Rainbow Dash should be fine guiding us alone." she said doubtfully.

"Yeah, it'll be totally fine. Trust me." Rainbow Dash said enthusiastically.

Twilight supervised the other ponies putting on their lamp headgear and cast the feather fall spell on all of them. Then with a deep breath they all stood by the mouth of the hole and leaped down, Pinkie giving a happy squeal of delight as she did so.

"Ha ha! I like this plan." Pinkie said as they floated down, their lights shining out into the darkness around them. "Any plan that involves balloons and floating receives the Pinkie Pie seal of approval!"

They floated down a bit further with little conversation, Pinkie just enjoying the floating sensation and Twilight and Applejack keeping a nervous eye out for anything that could possibly go wrong. An ominous rumble caused some concern, which was voiced by Applejack. "Um, Twilight, that sound sorta ominous to you?"

Twilight grinned nervously, as she brightened the glow of her horn and directed it upwards to see if anything was wrong. "Just a minor seismic event, I'm sure. What could possibly go wrong?" Further comment was stopped when a trickle of rock and dust landed on Twilights head.

With the light provided by Twilight's horn everypony could see in the tunnel above them as the rocks hurtled towards them.

"Rocks fall, everypony dies?" Pinkie Pie said weakly as she gazed at the source of her and her friends impending doom.

**To Be Continued!**


	2. Chapter 2

With rocks about to crush everypony Twilight had to think fast. She quickly increased the magic power that she was already directing to her horn to provide light in order to make a new magic effect that would grab Applejack and Pinkie Pie and drag them closer to her. Putting her forelegs around them she then called out to Rainbow Dash. "Dash! Grab us then fly down as fast as you can!"

Without even taking the time to verbally respond to Twilight Dash grabbed Twilight's tail and started accelerating downwards as fast as she could. There were a few heart stopping moments when she felt like she was losing her grip on Twilight's tail, but she tightened her jaws and held on as firmly as she could. Despite the danger they were in and the necessity of them traveling as fast as they could Dash made a point to not accelerate to sonic rainboom levels. With their current luck such a thing done underground would destroy Equestria, a place that Rainbow Dash rather liked. It was where she kept all her stuff.

Through long practice flying Rainbow Dash had developed a knack for determining the time it would take her to do something after she'd done it once before, and she could tell at the breakneck rate she was flying that the bottom of the hole they were traveling down was fast approaching. She started slowing down just enough so that her friends momentum would cause them to press against her back, then she flattened her body by pointing her legs outwards like she was doing a cartwheel. She did this hoping that it would increase her surface area enough so that when they had to stop fairly abruptly none of her friends would fall off her sides. As for Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, they clung to each other desperately trying not to lose any of their number while they zoomed downwards.

When the end of the hole finally came Dash put on the breaks as hard as she could. Because they were under the effects of the feather fall spell Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie were spared some of the more drastic effects of such a sudden stop but Dash had the wind knocked out of her. They spread out across the cave floor, exhausted by their ordeal.

Rarity and Fluttershy quickly ran over to their friends to see what was wrong. "What in the world-" Rarity's cry was cut short as Twilight let out a burst of magic that enveloped her friends and propelled them all away from the bottom of the hole they flew down, just before a pile of rock fell right where they would have been.

Pinkie Pie was the first to get up after the shock wore off. Even she was pretty shaken up about what happened, but she had a natural resilience that allowed her to bounce back from things faster then most ponies. "Wow, Dash. After this how many lives have you saved?"

Despite taking a bit of a beating on the way down Dash shakily got to her hooves, bolstered by having once again kicked death in the face while simultaneously proving to the world that she was awesome. "Pinkie Pie, after awhile you just stop keeping track." Dash said with a smirk, but after a second she added with a little humility, "Although I wouldn't have been able to save everypony without Twilight's quick thinking. And she also kept us from getting crushed by rocks with her magic after we crashed down here. So it's like 50/50 me and Twilight who saved everypony."

Applejack adjusted her lamp headgear, making sure it was still functional. Then she got up and gave her body a shake to get the adrenaline out of her system before she gave the hole they came through a look over. "Ah'm as thankful as anypony that you and Twilight saved our hides, Rainbow Dash. But Ah'm sorry to say that seems to be the only bit of good news at the moment. The hole we came through is plugged up. Twilight, is there any other way out of here?" Applejack said with worry in her voice.

Twilight had also been looking at the hole. Whatever seismic event it was that had happened had resulted in so much rock and dust falling down the hole that it piled up and indeed blocked it. It looked like any attempt to dig their way out might bring the whole ceiling down on them. Twilight gestured for her friends to leave their current area to find a more stable cave to make plans in. Once they had some distance from the unstable part of the cave they were now in they settled down and Twilight took out her journal and explained what their plan was to get out of their predicament. "We can't go back up the way we came in, unfortunately, but luckily there are still mapped out paths back to the surface recorded in my journal. We aren't trapped down here. The bad news is that the way out is fairly distant. It's going to be a hard march through unknown territory to get there. Thankfully our supplies are intact and we are well stocked for such a trip."

Rarity leaned her head onto Twilight for emotional support. "Twilight, you talk as if though you're forgetting about our original task. I know it's important to find a way out for all of us, but that doesn't mean we can't also pursue the purpose we came down here for in the first place."

Twilight leaned against Rarity in turn, showing her acceptance of her support. "Thank you, Rarity. I'm not giving up on finding out more about the underground pony settlement while we're down here, but my main concern is going to be making sure all of us get out of here in one piece." Twilight said with a serious expression. She then got up and after checking to make sure everypony had their composure back she lead them in the direction she estimated that their exit was located.

* * *

><p>As the ponies traveled they kept quiet, except for Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie would go on in a disjointed narration, mostly because she had an excess of nervous energy then because she really wanted to talk to anypony. Everypony was nervous, the caves were pretty unsettling to be in and it was hard to keep track of the time without the sun, moon and stars. Twilight's time sense was generally good but even she was having trouble with the unrelenting gloom of the caves around her. She was also getting discouraged because she was seriously beginning to doubt that she'd find any kind of pony settlement down here at all. She had assumed there would be some kind of ecosystem down here, something for ponies to eat, but there didn't seem to be anything. Perhaps, she thought sadly, there really wasn't going to be anything down here but dust and bones.<p>

As they continued on their journey the caves they were traveling in increased in size, and the beams of light produced by the unicorn's horns and everypony else's lamp headgear shot off into the distance without actually doing much of anything other then providing a contrast to the darkness that surrounded all of them. Around the time when Twilight assumed the sun had gone down on the surface they started hearing the sound of moving water in the distance. They excitedly followed the sound till they found an underground stream of water. Twilight checked it with her horn, a simple spell to determine water purity, and deemed it safe to drink. This was a real boon for the expedition, because it meant not tapping into their stored supply of water. Rarity couldn't go very long without a proper bath so she convinced Twilight to make camp for a bit by the water so that she could clean herself up. The other ponies took the time to enjoy splashing around in the water as well, while taking turns looking out for trouble.

While Pinkie Pie started an impromptu splash fight with everypony acting like fillies, Twilight took the time to study the water. It occurred to her that such a damp area as the one they were in was a prime place to find signs of life. The other ponies had left their lamp headgear by the side of the water, to give them light, so Twilight had the chance to look around without an excess of light drowning out details. With her own horn's light lowered in intensity Twilight walked around the perimeter of their makeshift camp with her face to the ground. She saw some tiny pools of stagnant water with something growing in them. The walls also had stuff growing on them, slick stuff that seemed to catch the light of Twilight's horn, reflecting it back to her. It was only when Twilight got closer to the walls of the cave that she saw that the slime itself was giving off a soft glow. Lowering her horns glow even further she looked upwards and saw that the cave ceiling had tiny specks of glowing light that seemed to mimic a night sky. It occurred to Twilight that if they shut off their sources of light and waited for their eyes to adjust they might be able to see by the light of the strange glowing flora that grew down here. They probably couldn't see very well, but it was an option, at least.

By this time Twilight had wondered a little further from her friends then she had intended, so when she saw her horn's light reflected in the eyes of an indistinct figure off in the distance she gave a yelp of surprise. Though she herself was pretty freaked out by the sight of the eyes, the owner of them was even more so, and the figure ran off into the darkness. "Wait!" Twilight called after whatever it was. Perhaps not the smartest move, but it was the first living animal she had seen down here and she wanted to know what it was.

Twilight ran back to her friends. "Girls, I just saw something! We have to find out what it was!" she said while quickly gathering her things. With her magic she gathered her friend s things for them and placed them back in their bags and then slipped the lamp headgear onto Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pies and Applejack's heads. With that done she took off after the figure she saw with her friends hot on her hooves.

Whatever else the figure turned out to be it was definitely clever. It went down side tunnels and back out of them, left false trails, and did other tricks to lose its pursuers. It was only Twilight's cleverness and the odd magic spell that kept her and her friends on its trail. Finally what they were following went down what appeared to be a one way tunnel, with no exit other then by going through Twilight's group. Twilight motioned for her friends to slow down, with the thing cornered she had the chance to think in terms a bit more rational then just "chase it!" and she knew that rushing after something cornered that was in full fight or flight mode would probably make it fight. Even though Twilight knew that whatever it was they were chasing was probably distressed she still needed to see what it was. She rationalized to herself that if it seemed like either their presence was detrimental to it our it seemed to be about to attack them she and her friends could leave without either party coming to any real harm.

As the ponies inched forward they were shocked at what they saw. The "creature" they were chasing after was a small filly. She was tiny, seemingly younger then she really was, despite her actual features indicating she was probably around Applebloom and her friend s age. She was breathing hard, almost looking like she was hyperventilating, and her wide eyes were being shielded by her hooves as if though the light they brought with them was hurting them. She was nearly silent with the only sound that she was making being that of her heavy breathing and an occasional whimper, when other fillies her age would be crying or screaming in fright. Her mane, a faded light blue in color, was kept shorter then was generally popular amongst fillies on the surface, though it was well groomed. Her coat was an even lighter shade of blue, faded to such a degree that it looked white.

Twilight and her friends surprise left them speechless, and before they could gather their wits and try to communicate with the little filly a group of wild eyed ponies rushed out of holes that were hidden in the cave walls. The camouflage was done so well that the ponies seemed to come out of nowhere, and they bellowed and screeched as they reared up on their hind legs, trying their best to be intimidating. Twilight was scared, but she kept enough of her senses to note that the eyes of the ponies that had come to the little filly's defense were rolling around in their sockets, and she could tell that the ponies were as blinded by their lights as the filly was, though they tried to hide it.

"Back! Get back you savages!" An imperious voice shouted out, with a slightly odd accent to the Equine she was speaking. Suddenly the light that filled the cave they were in brightened to near daylight levels of intensity, far beyond the paltry levels that Twilight's group could generate with their horns or their lamp headgear. The light terrified the cave ponies and they grabbed the filly and fled through the camouflaged holes in the cave wall. The source of the light revealed itself to come from a group of unicorn ponies, who were accompanied by some earth ponies in full armor. These new ponies, along with the ponies that apparently lived in the dark caves, were all of a tinier build then ponies of the surface. The unicorns in particular had an almost fairy-like look to them.

"This world is dangerous, my friends." Said the apparent leader of the other party, a unicorn with her horn shining even brighter then those of her companions. In her strange accent she continued. "I know not who you are or how you came to be here, but we must go to a safe place that we might talk in peace. But before we go I must introduce myself: I am Radiant, the leader of New Equestria."

Pinkie scratched her head in confusion. "There's a new Equestria now?"

* * *

><p>Radiant and her entourage had brought Twilight and her friends to a large chamber with a set of imposing doors. They stopped before them, and Radiant turned towards Twilight with an unreadable expression. "This is the main gate to New Equestria. However, before you are allowed admittance you are required to answer some questions."<p>

Twilight, who had been ready to explode with her own questions for the shorter, but still imposing, unicorn tried to compromise. "Perhaps we could have an exchange of questions? There is much we can learn from one another."

Radiant looked at Twilight with a thoughtful, yet still wary, expression. As Radiant considered whether to agree to answer Twilight's questions as Twilight answered her own, Twilight took the opportunity to study the unicorn. In addition to being shorter then her she was also nearly completely white in color. Her mane, coat, and horn, all were white. Just her eyes and cutie mark had any color, both being blue with her cutie mark being some kind of stylized crystal. Her horn was long and intimidatingly sharp, so too were the other unicorn's horns in Radiant's group. In the past unicorns had grown their horns long, for use in battle, while in the present unicorns purposefully blunted their horns as they were only needed to serve as instruments of magic and not as something you needed to stab somepony with. Apparently underground was a different story. All in all Radiant gave off the aura of somepony not to be trifled with.

"I will answer some of your questions." Radiant finally said. "But first you must explain yourselves. How is it you come to this place after so long? Did other settlements of Old Equestria flee underground when the Usurper claimed power?"

"Usurper?" Twilight said with a confused expression. "Do you mean Nightmare Moon? Please, could you perhaps give a short summary of what you think happened on the surface when you chose to flee down here? I need a little context before I explain anything."

Radiant nodded impatiently. "New Equestria was founded by ponies that fled the surface when the Usurper took power from Princess Celestia, she who raised the sun. The Usurper unleashed eternal night on the surface world and a New Equestria was founded as the last bastion of pony civilization, perhaps the last bastion of life itself after the Usurper's eternal night ravaged the surface world. Now, WHO. ARE. YOU. How is it that after hundreds of year s ponies from elsewhere find their way here? We are the last, or so we thought."

Twilight exchanged a look of amazement with her friends. Her theory about the ponies that fled Nightmare Moon was true! "The surface world isn't a wasteland." Twilight said carefully, not sure how such a shock might effect an entire civilization that seemed to base itself around being the last bastion of ponykind. "Nightmare Moon was relatively quickly banished to the moon she took her name from by Princess Celestia. There has been a thousand years of relative peace."

Radiant's eyes widened at Twilight's revelation, but she let no further indication of her emotion show on her face. "So those who came before us fled underground for no reason? You'll forgive me if I find such an idea preposterous. What proof do you have for any of this?"

Applejack looked around in her saddle pack until she found an apple, then pulled it out by its stem and set it before Radiant. "Ah don't know how things work down here and what you ponies all eat underground but Ah reckon that you've never seen an apple as juicy as this one. We're from the sun blessed surface, no doubt about that."

Radiant, and the other ponies that called this underground world their home, looked at the apple with awe. "Yes, we've never seen an... apple like that before. We've never seen an apple before." Radiant said quietly. Applejack seemed pleased by that comment, but Twilight couldn't help but see a dark expression momentarily shift across Radiant's face. Radiant grabbed the apple with her magic and lifted it towards one of her unicorn companions, who floated it above his head and kept it there. The unicorns had no bags with them so perhaps he was now being tasked with carting the foreign, precious object around. Radiant let her eyes linger on the fruit, before directing her attention back to Twilight. "Such an object is impressive, but hardly conclusive proof of you being from a surface undisturbed by the Usurpers wrath. Perhaps your settlement simply had better luck growing plants beneath the surface then we've had in our own city."

Applejack bristled at the implication that she and her friends were being untruthful about where they came from, but Twilight managed to convey with a look that she'd be handling things. "Radiant, I know that this all must be a lot for you and the ponies you lead to take in, but if the supplies we have aren't enough to convince you we are telling you the truth about where we are from then you are just going to have to have faith that we are telling you the truth. Besides, even if we are lying about where we are from it should be evident that we pose no threat to you or the ponies you lead. Please, allow us to enter your home so that we can actually talk with each other."

Radiant shook her head with a frown, but rather then disagreeing with Twilight it seemed the gesture was just an indication of her displeasure with the situation she was in because she quickly whispered to one of the earth pony guards with her, who then left. A moment later the large doors that were blocking their entrance into the underground ponies home began to open. "Very well, we will go to the central government building. Once there we shall talk in greater detail about where you are supposedly from. We'll also feed you and provide you with a place to rest."

"Thank you; we could all use a rest as it's been an exciting day." Twilight said. She then realized that she hadn't yet introduced herself or her friends to the pony who was the head of state of an entire underground society, and decided to rectify the situation. "Such and exciting day that I may have neglected to make proper introductions. Allow me to make amends: I am Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends... uh." Twilight's pause wasn't because she had forgotten her friend s names, but was rather because what was behind the slowly opening doors was amazing.

What was beyond the doors was a large cave, but that hardly did it justice. It was so large that looking through the doors was like looking outside. The inside of the cave was arranged like one bowl placed upside down on top of another, a dome of stone arching far above a valley. From Twilight's position she looked "down" into the valley, in which she could see indistinct patches of green, probably containing the crops that were grown for the ponies that lived down here. Far in the distance there were many tall buildings, with the tallest structure being the primary cause of Twilight s surprised silence. The tallest tower had a massive crystal at its top, a crystal that glowed with a strange light that provided an illumination equivalent to daytime on the surface while providing none of the actual sun's warmth. It was an impressive, and altogether alien, landscape that took Twilight's breath away.

Radiant seemed satisfied at her home's effect on the strange visitors and she gestured for them to enter. "Come along, Twilight. The night cycle begins soon and nopony likes to be out in the dark."

* * *

><p>The walk to the central government building, apparently the same building that had the large glowing crystal that served as the sun for this underground world at it's top, was a fairly short one. As they walked Twilight made some idle chitchat with Radiant, continuing her introductions of her friends and making some impressed sounding comments about the world she was being introduced to, while most of her attention was dedicated to observing the details of the society she had been thrust into.<p>

The green patches she had seen on her first look into New Equestria were, as she had thought, crops. There was poor soil quality down here, if she was any judge, and the plants they grew down here were hardy specimens that looked like they were chosen for how robust they were rather then for the quality of how they might taste. The plants were grown by earth pony farmers; farmer's who ignored the strangers accompanying their leader to their capitol. Considering how hard they had to work in order to get surface plants to grow in such a hostile environment Twilight was surprised and dismayed to see that she couldn't see any cutie marks on the flanks of any of the farmers that were working so hard to feed their fellow ponies. She had hoped to see some cutie marks indicating that some of these farmers were doing what was their driving passion in life, but the fact that it seemed none of them had a cutie mark at all was very worrying. It would make sense if some of them had cutie marks indicating that their passion in life wasn't farming, sometimes for the good of the community you had to do something you didn't like, but the fact that they all didn't seem to have any passion in life at all was horrible.

As they neared the central government building, Twilight finally gave voice to her concerns about the missing cutie marks. "Radiant, I couldn't help but notice that the farmers we saw as we walked seemed to be missing their cutie marks. Is that common?"

"Cutie mark?" Radiant said the words as if though they were foreign and strange placed together like that. "A strange phrase. The only "mark" that I'm aware of is the one that only those who are truly devoted to the safety and welfare of New Equestria receive." She looked at the blue crystal at her flank, and nodded to similar one's on the flanks of the other ponies in her entourage. "It's a prerequisite for government service. Other ponies receive positions more suited to those with a lack of conviction. Farming and the like."

This particular bit of knowledge was not to Twilight's liking at all, but she didn't want to get into it with her host at that particular moment. Unfortunately for her, Applejack wouldn't let Radiant's comments go without saying something. "No wonder you don't have anything decent to eat down here, if you're forcing ponies to grow things who don't want to. If you got a pony who loves what she's doing she can pull fresh carrots out of granite, but making these sad sacks grow things it's a wonder you all ain't starving."

"We WOULD be starving, if nopony grew anything." Radiant said icily. "We don't have the luxury of choosing to do what we love in New Equestria, perhaps it's different on your surface."

Rainbow Dash had an expression like she smelled something rotten; she didn't like this Radiant one bit. Still, for Twilight's sake she tried to be civil and ask a question. "What about the pegasus ponies, Radiant? Aren't there any of us down here?"

Radiant nodded, happy to have a distraction from the lippy pony with a hat. "Pegasus ponies maintain the sun crystal; it's a very important job."

Rainbow Dash squinted up at the sun crystal. "And that's all they do?"

Radiant looked at Rainbow Dash like she'd asked why ponies chose to breath. "What else would they do?"

Twilight was beginning to piece together a rather unflattering and even sinister picture of what New Equestrian life was like, no matter how hard she tried to keep from passing judgment over an entire civilization from bits and pieces that could have been taken out of context. She needed some more info. "So, earth ponies farm and pegasus ponies maintain the sun crystal. What do Unicorn ponies do?"

Radiant lifted her head proudly. "Isn't it obvious? With our magic we are the only ones who can power the sun crystal. We are responsible for the very sun of this world, and like Princess Celestia did before us we rule. Of course only unicorn ponies such as me, those with the mark, can have actual positions of authority. Still, because all unicorns help power the sun crystal we all have the natural birthright to rule. Earth ponies and pegasus ponies who receive the mark are trusted figures in our society, and they help to enforce our rule, but even they aren't given the responsibility of governance."

Warning klaxons were going off in Twilight's head. New Equestria was an extremely authoritarian state with what seemed to be a strict caste system, and the only ponies in a position of authority were the ones whom had a cutie mark that indicated they were completely devoted to the state. Twilight was becoming more and more of the opinion that it would take only one wrong statement for their interactions with Radiant to go downhill very, very, quickly.

"That's dumb!" Twilight turned stiffly towards Rainbow Dash, with a shocked expression. She didn't have a chance to stop her from saying anything more. "This place isn't a country; it's barely big enough to be a city. And cities have mayors!"

"And cities elect mayors, they don't have rulers who claim a birthright to rule." Applejack said in agreement with Rainbow Dash, while Twilight put her hoof to her face at how very wrong everything was going. "You unicorn ponies seem to think yer royalty, on the same level as the princesses. Well Ah hate to break it to you, sister, but Celestia and Luna have wings in addition to the fancy horns you got on your foreheads!"

Radiant's eyes widened in shock and anger. "Princesses? There is only one princess worthy of the title, and she is dead. The other one who had claim to that title sacrificed such claim when she usurped power from her sister.

Applejack had enough of this self important pony and she stamped her hooves down as she marched over to her and looked her dead in the eyes. "Princess Celestia lives and rules with a kind hoof, and her sister Luna rules by her side, the position she was always meant to have. Or are you callin' me a liar!"

Radiant backed of a step and lowered her horn so that the needle sharp tip was pointing directly between Applejacks eyes. "I'm not calling you a liar... I'm calling you a HERETIC! Guards! Seize these ponies, at once!" The argument between Applejack and Radiant had been at the very front door of the central government building and guards were everywhere within seconds of Radiant's cry. Three earth pony guards tackled Pinkie Pie. Two burly Pegasus ponies dropped a net on Fluttershy, which was enough to keep her from being able to fly away, and they then chained Rainbow Dash's legs to their own so that she couldn t fly off anywhere that they didn't go as well. Ten Unicorn spell casters were what it took to capture Twilight, with Rarity trapped with her, the unicorns being unsure if she was as formidable as her purple friend. Applejack was under Radiant's own watchful eye, making it so that all the foreign ponies were safely subdued and could await her judgment.

"These ponies are spies in the employ of Nightmare Moon!" Radiant said spitting out the horrible name to impress on her guards the importance of making sure none of the prisoners got away. "Take these ponies to the dungeon. Their fate will be decided tomorrow. Like all agents of the Usurper they shall be given a just punishment."

"Oh come on! This is like some kind of inquisition!" Pinkie Pie said, after spitting out some of her mane that had been jammed in her mouth after being so rudely forced to the ground. Her expression grew thoughtful as she reached up with a hoof that she probably shouldn't have been able to get out of the grasp of trained soldiers to scratch her head in confusion. "Huh, I did not expect this."

**To Be Continued!**


End file.
